By Michelene Ough
Some Centretown eateries are offering diners a taste of contemporary art, by doing double duty as galleries.
Local restaurants are showing changing displays of art on their walls, with the artists’ price tags attached. Some, like the Manx at 370 Elgin St., even advertise themselves as galleries.
“I think it helps the business,” says Manx co-owner Robyn Guest of the art displays. “Not financially, but as far as community — we support them and they support us.”
Guest says the art also helps to bring in new customers, as well as bringing back old ones. “The art makes the place dynamic, because the look here is always changing.”
The Manx first began showing art seven years ago, because a former co-owner was an artist and wanted to show her own work in the restaurant. The trend continued from there.
Guest says the Manx has showcased about 84 artists’ work since then.
Each month, a new artist’s work is put up. All the artists have sold at least one piece during the month they’ve shown, she says, and some have even sold out.
On average, the pieces cost less than $500, but Guest says they’ve varied in the past, anywhere from $25 to well over $1,000.
The Manx has also hired a curator to view portfolios and book artists. Although artists must go through the usual screening process to get their work shown, says Guest, the space is open to any interested person who has pieces to display.
“It’s a good chance for up-and-coming artists,” Guest says of the restaurant displays. “They can get feedback, exposure, get their name out there . . . a good number of artists drink here and eat here, so it’s a good way to be part of that community as well.”
Local artist Lois Kapitaniuk has shown her work at the Ironwood restaurant at 374 Bank St. for just over two years now, changing the work on display every six months during that time.
Kapitaniuk’s collection consists mainly of brightly coloured still-life floral designs. She has sold about 10 pieces so far at the Ironwood, and has shown at several other local restaurants.
“I personally look for places that don’t take a cut,” she says.
“Glenn [Ironwood’s owner], for instance, doesn’t take any percentage from my sales.”
To show in a gallery, the usual cut is about 15 per cent, she says, partly because galleries do more work to promote the art.
“What I like about [restaurants], though” says Kapitaniuk, “is that people who buy my art really love it. They come in for dinner, and if they fall in love with the piece they open their chequebook and buy it. There are no high-pressure sales tactics.”
Since March, the work of James Brummel has been on display at the Ironwood, and owner Glenn Saunders says it’s not doing as well as Kapitaniuk’s has.
None of Brummel’s pieces have sold, and Saunders attributes this to the fact that his work, a collection of collages, might not have the more universal appeal of Kapitaniuk’s paintings.
But overall, Saunders says, he’s found that showing art in his restaurant works well and benefits owners, artists and patrons.
“People might not go to a gallery because they think it’s stuffy, but it’s not all white walls here,” Saunders says. “They can come in and have dinner, look at a piece a few times, and then buy it if they like it.”